Taylor Swift's New Album 'Red' Sells 1.2M in First Week

Taylor Swift's fourth studio album "Red" sold a over 1.2 million copies last week in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan and debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

"They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week," Swift tweeted. "How is this real life?! You are UNREAL. I love you so much. Thanks a million ;)"

This is Swift's third platinum selling album.

This is the first album since Eminem's 2002 album "The Eminem Show" to sell this many copies and Britney Spears is the only female artist to outsell Swift with her "Oops!... I Did It Again" album that sold 1.32 million copies in the first week.

"This is a thrilling moment for artists signed to and promoted by independent music labels, and it's happening during the most competitive season of the year," Rich Bengloff, president of the American Association of Independent Music, said in a statement. "As change accelerates in the music marketplace, it has led to a rise in access for artists directly to their fans and enabled both artists and independent labels to control how their music is produced, distributed and marketed. These results are just the beginning."

NSYNC's "No Strings Attached," hold the record week debut when it debuted at No. 1 with 2.416 million in 2000.

According to BillBoard, nearly 465,000 copies of Swift's album were sold on iTunes setting "a record sales week for an iTunes album."

Tonight, at the 2012 Country Music Awards, Swift is up for Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year. The CMA Awards are live tonight on ABC at 8 p.m.